Evil and Marketing, Friends or Foes

Writing from a coffee shop in Santa Monica, as I wait a few days for the movers to bring our stuff.

A fellow in our business sent this article out.

I got a kick out of the examples, as they definitely illustrate the challenges in marketing, making money and being transparent with your users.

http://searchengineland.com/evil-conversion-when-optimization-goes-too-far-42838

(bonus: the site itself disclosed informative information on why I received the popup overlay when I first visited the site)

So, what are your thoughts on what is evil and what is not in the world of online e-commerce?

Teleportation

Well, this is exciting.

Sorry I've been away for so long.

How to Be Weird

Very cool article on creative minds:

How To Be Weird (And Why)

Be weird. Do obscure things, seek occluded knowledge, try odd experiments in strange ways. No-one ever became interesting by travelling well-trodden paths. People redefine boundaries by testing them, poking holes in them and wandering around in the void just beyond the edge.

While you do this, though, people will call you weird, or crazy. This is probably an excellent indication that you are on the right path.

Small By Choice

Some great quotes in this article about a small Chicago pizzeria that does it their own way. (via SvN)

Small by Choice, Whether Clients Like It or Not

"That is the American way — to expand without really thinking."

"The customer really isn’t always right."

"I think that perception of arrogance has to do with the sense of entitlement and a lack of respect for someone wanting to do their job. We’re just trying to do the job the best we can. We’re trying to provide a quality experience for everyone who comes in. In the food service business, it’s assumed that the customers have a set of God-given birthrights when they come into an establishment. It’s like they’ve been wronged in a lot of parts of their lives, and this is their chance to even the score."

"From my experience being a designer, once you know in your gut what you’re doing is really good, you just have to go with it. You can’t hold back because there’s going to be one person saying, “I don’t like that purple or that pink.” People are going to be people."

DST, XKCD Style

(via xkcd)

Let's Have A Meeting!

(via SvN)

Let Them Sing It For You

Just when you think you've seen every cool thing there is on the Internet, something like this comes along...

Let Them Sing It For You

(via All Songs Considered)

$500 for Audio Bliss

Vacuous humor.

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Link-Cable/dp/B000I1X6PM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Read a couple customer reviews. I wonder if any of them are from actual purchasers?

(via Gizmodo)

How To Use Wave In a Life or Death Situation

(from Gizmodo)

If you appreciated this, then head on over to your Wave account and respond to Gary! Otherwise, I'll have to pull out Ezekiel on you.

The Other Internet

Cool little short story:

The Other Internet

(via Novelr)

New Web Publishing Experiments

Traditional publishing model with some interesting twists (targeting a literary crowd) - began in 1998.

Interesting site and design:

http://store.mcsweeneys.net/

New iphone subscription ($5.99 for 6 months):

http://iphone.mcsweeneys.net/

• mini-subscription to a variety of McSweeney's content
• access to the free stuff that the website posts every day
• every week you get a "Small Chair" update. These will be articles from the print versions of McSweeney's or The Believer or a short video from Wolphin. This weekly content is not available on the website, just in the various hard-copy versions of their publications.

I like the blend of traditional paper-bound content, print subscriptions, free online content and newer tech mobile delivery. The key will be if they can find the right balance of price points.

(and for those who like design - here's the Danish designer - http://www.russellquinn.com/)

The 3 Most Important Things You Need for a Startup (and one of them is not money)

Having lived in the Bay Area for over a year, I've been exposed to more people who have been part of startups (mostly failed).

This article nicely summarized a Meebo founder's take on making it past early startup phase:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/20/from-nothing-to-something-how-to-get-there/

• a great startup team (< 4 people)
  
• just get your product out the door
• get a good mentor

While I haven't taken the plunge on an early startup, I can say that some part of me resonated with:

"No office. No phone system. No hiring. No press. No legal muck. No raising money. No looking for partnerships (who’s going to partner with you anyway?). The success or failure of the adoption of your product is what will create 99% of the initial value of your company. If no one ever uses your product, you have no value"

MIT students photograph near space for $150

A group of M.I.T. students used a weather balloon, a digital camera, a pre-paid cell phone, a beer cooler and a couple of hand warmers to capture photographs of the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth.

Techcrunch Follows My Lead

On Sep 11, 2009, at 6:36 AM, BoRyan wrote:

Yeah Ok, So Facebook Punk’d Us

This reminded me of the magic sword. It's good to know that even big tech companies still have a personalized sense of humor (and PR folks hold some sway with the tech geeks).

Triumphant Return

I've been away...

Jeeves Has Retired
"Jeeves, after years of loyal service is taking the opportunity to hang up his butler suit and take retirement."

...but now I'm back:

Why I'm Back
"I popped out three years ago to travel the world in a quest for knowledge and I've returned to Blighty armed with answers."


(with apologies to the Jesus and Mary Chain & Mazzy Star)

Sometimes Always - The Jesus &...

Funemployment

Had to come out of Towform hibernation for this:

For the 'funemployed,' unemployment is welcome

These jobless folks, usually singles in their 20s and 30s, find that life without work agrees with them. Instead of punching the clock, they're hitting the beach.

DST - 56 Ways

EDIT: Feb 2023. Blogger took down this 14 year old post for violating content guidelines. Best guess was one of the acronyms cited here could make a bot think it was a different kind of blog. I tried redacting part of the word before resubmitting in case that was in fact the technicality that triggered the takedown. (Blogger mods—if it’s something else please comment with the specifics!)

Rather than recount my annual rant, this year I thought I'd present a list of other DSTs.

I suppose this could also be titled "Acronym Overkill"

DST Daylight Saving Time
DST Destination
DST Destination Host
DST Direction De La Surveillance Du Territoire (French MI-5)
DST Department of Science & Technology
DST Dedicated Service Tools
DST Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc
DST Dexamethasone Suppression Test
DST Drill Stem Test (Oil Field)
DST Decision Support Tools
DST Doença Sexualmente Transmissível
DST Digital Signature Trust (Zion Bankcorporation)
DST Discrete Sine Transform
DST Double-Shell Tank
DST Drive Self Test
DST Dynamical Systems Theory
DST Directorate of Science and Technology (US CIA)
DST Data Storage Technology
DST Decision Support Template
DST Deep Space Transponder
DST Dynamic Stress Test
DST Digital Signature Trust Company (Salt Lake City, UT)
DST Dynamic Solvency Testing (actuarial/insurance)
DST Deployment Support Team (US Army)
DST District Support Teams (Army Corps of Engineers)
DST Data Storage and Transfer
DST Doctor of Sacred Theology
DST Deputy Sheriff Trainee
DST Data Support Team
DST Double Set Trigger (target rifle feature)
DST Direct Support Team
DST Defense Suppression Threat
DST Data Systems Test
DST Diode Split Transformer
DST Device Signal Tag
DST Data Systems Technician
DST Dynamic Screen Transparency
DST Daughters of Saint Thomas
DST Dedicated System Time
DST Downsized Tester
DST Disaster Services Technology (American Red Cross)
DST Daily Slot Tournament (seen in casino ads and signs)
DST Digital Serial Transceiver
DST Dependent Student Travel
DST Defense & Space Talks
DST Denford Small Tools
DST Dirty South Thugs
DST Dissemination Services Team
DST Dog*** Style Tattoo (tattoo on the small of the back)
DST Designated Surface Target
DST Digital Switch Terminal (Alcatel)
DST Digital Serving Test Center (AT&T)
DST Discarding Sabot with Trace
DST Division Summary Tool
DST Define Substrate Technology (assessment of the potability of drinking water)
DST Dominion Soil Thunder Bay (Canadian engineering firm)

(via The Free Dictionary)

Airplane Food

You haven't read a customer complaint letter until you've read this...

Virgin Atlantic's 'Culinary Journey of Hell'

I’ll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it’s Christmas morning and you’re sat their with your final present to open. It’s a big one, and you know what it is. It’s that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about.

Only you open the present and it’s not in there. It’s your hamster Richard. It’s your hamster in the box and it’s not breathing. That’s how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this.

Post Office Reform

I've often said I'd never complain about spam email again if I could guarantee that I'd never receive another piece of paper junk mail. Last night I took that one step further and started debating with my wife why the US Post Office continues to exist today.

It seems to primarily deliver junk mail. "Direct mail" has a typical response rate of 1-2%, and 5% or above is both phenomenal and unheard of. This means that 95% of all "direct mail" requires employees to sort it plus trucks (and fuel) to cart it around so it can immediately be thrown in the trash upon receipt. And that makes sense how?

Did a little research and found some cool articles and studies on post office privatization and the challenges in getting such a project going. This quote about summed up my perspective:

Don't Bail Out The Mail

"And they certainly won't address the Postal Service's underlying problem, which is that only grandparents, banks and junk-mailers actually send letters anymore. If U.S. autoworkers are hard-pressed to compete, it's a thousand times worse for mailmen, who sell the epistolary equivalent of an overpriced horse-and-buggy."

I haven't fully thought this out, but wouldn't it make more sense to outlaw junk mail, sell off USPS assets to UPS or FedEx, and use the money saved to subsidize Internet access (with low cost computers as needed) for all Americans so they can have access to email and online bill pay, eliminating the majority of day to day practical mail service needs?

More: Postal Chief Warns of Service Cuts

Fools Rush In

Verizon and RIM "rushed" buggy Storm to market

Insiders claim the Storm—slammed by reviewers and users alike for its sluggish, glitchy performance—barely made it to stores in time for Black Friday last year, and as a consequence, it wasn't quite ready for prime time.

To its credit, Verizon released a software update in December that smoothed out some of the Storm's kinks. However, while the firmware fix was certainly welcome, the whole "release it now, patch it later" thing is an insidious habit: It encourages sloppiness in the race to hit a looming release date, and it's seriously disrespectful of customers.